1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses, information processing methods, and programs. Particularly, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program which are capable of appropriate recording reservation of a plurality of programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recording-playback apparatuses that record and play back television (TV) programs on recording media, such as hard disks or optical disks, have been developed. Presetting such recording-playback apparatuses to record TV programs (reserving the TV programs to be recorded by the recording-playback apparatuses) allows users to watch the TV programs after the TV programs were broadcasted, for example, even if the users were away from home during the broadcasting time.
There are cases where the program precedent to a reservation program (for example, a live program of a sports game, such as baseball or soccer) is extended and the broadcasting start time of the reservation program is delayed.
In such cases, the recording-playback apparatus starts to record the TV program which is actually broadcasted in the corresponding channel (the TV program precedent to a reservation program) on the recording media at the recording start time of the reservation program, and terminates the recording of the reservation program at a time when the broadcasting of the reservation program has not been completed (at the recording end time). As a result, it may be impossible to appropriately record the reservation program.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-032128 discloses a reservation method for digital TV broadcast programs, described below with reference to FIG. 1.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, recording of a program B1 in a predetermined channel in which programs are to be broadcasted according to a schedule shown in FIG. 1(A) is reserved. However, since a program A precedent to the program B1 is extended as shown in FIG. 1(B), the broadcasting start time of the program B1 is changed from a time tS1 to a time tS1″.
A recording-playback apparatus stores identification information (ID) (EventID) of the reservation program B1, the recording start time and end time corresponding to the broadcasting start time and the program length of the program B1, and so on in the reservation.
The recording-playback apparatus selects a channel of the program B1 at a time t0 a predetermined time before the recording start time tS1 of the program B1. The recording-playback apparatus starts to acquire an event information table EIT[P] and an EIT[F] from a broadcast signal and to determine whether the ID of the program B1 is included in the EIT[P] and the EIT[F].
The EITs are included in service information transmitted along with video and audio transport streams of a program. The EITs include the EIT[P] in which the name, the content, the broadcasting start time, and the program length (hereinafter collectively referred to as program information when it is not necessary to differentiate them) of a program currently broadcasted are described and the EIT[F] in which the program information of a program to be subsequently broadcasted is described.
Referring to FIG. 1(B), since the program A is continued to be broadcasted at the time tS1 when the program B1 is scheduled to be broadcasted, the EIT[P] includes the ID of the program A and does not include the ID of the program B1. The EIT[F] is made indeterminate when the extension of the program A is determined, and is changed (fixed) at predetermined timing (at a predetermined time after the broadcasting start time tS1).
Specifically, since the ID of the program B1 is not set in the EIT[P] and the EIT[F] at the time tS1 in FIG. 1(B), the recording-playback apparatus does not start to record the program B1. After the ID of the program B1 is set in the EIT[F], the recording-playback apparatus changes the recording start time from the time tS1 to the time tS1″ based on the broadcasting start time tS1″ of the program B1, set in the EIT[F]. At a time tS1′ a predetermined time before the time tS1″, the recording-playback apparatus starts to acquire the EIT[P] and the EIT[F] and to determine whether the ID of the program B1 is included in the EIT[P] and the EIT[F].
Since the EIT[P] having the ID of the program B1 set therein is acquired at the time tS1″, the recording-playback apparatus starts to record the program B1 at the time tS1″. As a result, the program B1 is recorded on the recording medium in the recording-playback apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1(C).